Chapter 79: netseer
Chapter 79: netseer
If they applied this to the decay system, they only needed to express the item’s state according to the number of ticks assigned to each item. And if, instead of using separate ticks for each item, they created only several kinds of ticks and assigned them to items, they could implement it with even fewer resources.
And if we clearly define the ticks, we could also make it possible to interfere with them through methods like magic.
They could express weather so that items rotted faster in hot regions, delay ticks through freezing magic, or increase ticks through magic that rewound time.
Expanding it further, they could also consider making items change into a different state after their ticks ended. An apple would become a new item called a rotten apple.
We could even make things like doenjang.
He knew rotting and fermentation were different, but they could not implement every fine distinction like that in a game. It simply meant they could express it in this way.
Aside from that, he also wanted to create graphical changes according to these tick changes. However, he was not certain whether they could implement all these systems. For now, they would first make the basic decay system, then judge again afterward whether their development capacity and the computer’s resources could withstand it.
After that, Insu continued devising systems suited to the characteristics of an MMORPG and completed the planning accordingly.
Time passed, July arrived, and following America, TLF2 was also released in Korea and Japan.
Naturally, the response in Korea was heated. The previous game’s popularity was already strong, but since a domestically made game had become hugely popular overseas, and in America of all places, a kind of national pride was also at work.
[The legendary game has returned!]
Because of that, such an embarrassing phrase even appeared in a magazine.
PC communication services and the like were just as noisy as in America.
[So this is finally coming out!]
[Wow. But it’s still high-spec even by current standards, so how over-spec was the first game when it came out?]
[I heard this is causing a frenzy in America too?]
[You haven’t played the first one? It’s seriously a god-tier game.]
[I’m still digging through the first game every day.]
[I heard this one’s even better made?]
However, unlike those reactions, the actual atmosphere in stores was not quite that incredible.
No, it was definitely popular, and compared to other games, it was selling tremendously well. But at the time, Korea’s computer penetration rate itself was low, and there were even fewer machines at the 386 level or above, so an open run like America was impossible.
Only the most famous game stores in Seoul briefly felt crowded, while most other stores generally had around three to five copies stocked.
In contrast, in Japan, the reaction on PC communication services, magazines, and so on was weaker than in Korea or America. At the time, Japan could be called the golden age of RPGs, and all kinds of hit titles were pouring out.
Because of that, the spotlight was scattered. Unless someone was a serious enthusiast, they only received the impression that yet another RPG being loudly called a masterpiece had appeared.
However, the actual in-store reaction was at least far more impressive than Korea’s.
“Do you have TLF2?”
“TLF2?”
“Fantasy World 2!”
“Ah! It should be over where the poster is hanging.”
It was not on the same level as America, but stores had over a dozen copies stacked up, and in several stores, it frequently sold out as soon as it was released.
“Tell them to print more copies quickly!”
Isao of TechnoShoku was bombarded by reports of sellouts and additional purchase inquiries from stores across the country, and he struggled desperately to get more packages printed. Since Japan’s game market concentrated sales heavily in the early release period, he had to be even more desperate at the beginning than in other regions.
It definitely seems like a huge hit.
After collapsing into his seat, he tried to predict the game’s rough sales based on his past experiences. Of course, it was still only the first day, so predicting total sales from this alone was unreasonable.
But even aside from the characteristics of the Japanese market, first-day reactions tended to leave the strongest impression, so his experience-based intuition often activated, telling him something like, “If it’s this much, it usually ends up like this.”
For now, it’ll probably sell far more than MFN.
He did not compare it to the previous game in the series, TLF, because that had been back when Parallel Soft and that IP had weaker recognition. In any case, his intuition told him it would sell over fifty percent more than MFN.
If so, that would be a figure close to six hundred thousand copies, allowing it to achieve a new record in Japan.
Of course, Japan was a large market, and even by 1993, there were already several games that had sold over a million copies, and even titles that had recorded several million.
However, all of those were console games. Japan was a market where console games were clearly dominant, so PC was only a niche market. Surpassing five hundred thousand copies in that PC market would be a truly unprecedented record.
Maybe this will become a turning point where the PC game market grows significantly.
In the world where Insu lived, Japan remained centered on console games all the way until 2025, and PC games never caught up. But in this world, no one knew.
These days, Seongcheol was in a somewhat difficult situation. Recruiting development personnel for the search engine and portal site was blocked.
It was not that there were no applicants at all.
“Is there anyone usable?”
“No. Not really.”
Hyein, who was reviewing the documents, shook her head at Seongcheol’s words.
Parallel Soft had already possessed considerable name value, and with TLF2’s release, it had drawn even greater attention. Thanks to that, not only people in the game industry, but almost anyone with some interest in computers or software had at least heard its name.
Naturally, when such a company announced that it was recruiting a main manager for a new project, many people showed interest.
However, perhaps the era was too early, because no one possessed the conditions Insu wanted. Even when they applied the requirements flexibly, saying candidates did not need to satisfy all of them and only needed to meet some, it was the same.
[I lack ability, but I will do my best!]
“Haa.”
Looking at the application, Hyein unconsciously pressed her forehead. Of course, doing one’s best was good and something to be grateful for. But after watching her son and the development team struggle for years, she now knew clearly that development was not something done through motivation alone.
After nearly a month with no results, she contacted Silicon Gateway Associates as well. But even there, they could not find a suitable talent.
It was a place where all kinds of experienced professionals gathered, but search engines and portal sites did not even exist in the world yet, and the internet itself was an industry that had only just begun. Because of that, it was actually hard to find experienced people with relevant knowledge and ability.
But they could not give up just because things were somewhat blocked, so Seongcheol connected to PC communication to find boards or related information where they might recruit people.
There’s nothing here either.
Seongcheol read the replies under the recruitment post he had made one by one, but there was no real result.
[What’s next after TLF2?]
[Internet? Traitor! Long live BBS!]
[No MFN2?]
Only useless comments like those were attached. Of course, this was still interest in Parallel Soft in its own way, so it was not exactly bad, but he could not help feeling disappointed.
While poking around all over various boards like that, he discovered a certain post.
“Huh?”
It was a post discussing the internet and changes in society.
[Someday, the internet will replace TV and radio.]
It was a story that viewed the internet’s potential highly, just like his son did. Growing interested, Seongcheol began looking through that post and other posts written by the same user one by one.
[Right now, websites are scattered everywhere like weeds after rain, but if they are organized and gathered together, they can become powerful content. If traffic is gathered through that, it will be possible to make sufficient profit.]
It seems a little different from a search engine.
It was a concept similar to a portal site. Seongcheol felt that something was lacking, but in truth, Insu’s thinking was too far ahead, and by current standards, this method was more reasonable.
A portal site where people manually collected websites and classified them was called a directory-style portal. At the time, there were fewer than a thousand websites on the entire internet, so collecting them with people was actually more efficient and reasonable than using an engine.
Yahoo also manually collected and classified sites until the late 1990s, when the internet had exploded in growth. Eventually, it hit the limits of efficiency and borrowed Google’s engine before later buying another search engine company.
[I made a test site, so come take a look.]
And perhaps the owner of the ID netseer was not merely someone who talked, because he posted a site address along with such a message.
Naturally, Seongcheol accessed it.
At the top, there was a welcome message and the site name Hyper Index. Images of flowers, buildings, and mountains were slowly loading along with the word “advertisement.” Some were labeled as newspaper articles.
I guess this means ads and articles will go here.
And in the center, there was a long bar labeled search box, with several directories directly below it.
[Art] [Entertainment] [Computers] [Science] [Current Affairs] [News]
Beneath that, the word “Content” appeared at the front, with a long empty space beside it.
Overall, it strongly felt unfinished, but he could roughly tell what form it was aiming for.
He’s collected quite a lot.
Most of it consisted of nonfunctioning dummies, but the directories themselves contained actual links to websites. Since Seongcheol also found it difficult to find sites on the internet, he was pleased and saved this directory site.
Seems like a decent talent.
That thought occurred to Seongcheol, but since this was an unfamiliar field and it was more reliable to ask the person who had conceived the business in the first place, he called Insu.
“What do you think?”
“...Wow.”
Insu was impressed when he saw Hyper Index. The design was crude and the search function was merely decorative, but at least most of the elements that made up a portal site were already present: advertisements, content, news, search, categories, and so on.
The flaw was that it was a directory, not a search engine.
Considering the current internet environment, this side might actually be more suitable. If I remember correctly, early Yahoo used this method too. Is this person going to make something similar to Yahoo in this world?
Insu carefully examined the site, then asked his father and checked the creator’s PC communication ID before reviewing the posts as well.
“They definitely seem like someone whose thinking aligns with mine.”
“Really? That’s good. Then I’ll contact them.”
“Yes. Please.”
He was a little worried that the person might only have plausible ideas and no actual development ability, but the fact that they had made a site like this meant they could at least handle HTML and had some concept of development. Moreover, if the contents of their posts were not all bluffing, he might be able to entrust them not only with the PM role, but even the system architect role.
After hearing Insu’s answer, Seongcheol immediately sent netseer a private message.